Am I on the right track? Help please

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

<p>Hi! I'm currently a sophomore in high school and I know its a little early to be thinking about college, but I'm getting a little paranoid. I would like to go to Penn State (I'm gonna apply undecided). Here are my stats so far:</p>

<p>Freshmen year:
Honors Biology
Honors English
Honors Global
Algebra (regular class)
Italian 2 Honors</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
Honors English
AP World
Earth science (regular class) (they dropped me to a regular class because I have not taken geometry previously, and I need to take 3 lab sciences)
Geometry (regular class)
Italian 3 Honors</p>

<p>Junior year (what I'll be taking):
AP English
APUSH
Chemistry (regular class)
Algebra 2/Trig (regular class)
Italian 4 Honors</p>

<p>Senior year:
AP Lit
AP Bio
AP Gov (maybe)
Pre-calc
Most likely dropping Italian to take a scale business course</p>

<p>GPA: I don't know what it is on the 4.0 scale is but its 93/100.
I know its hard to predict, but I'm aiming for a 27-30 on my ACT.</p>

<p>Am I on the right track academic wise?
I'm getting really paranoid with the 2 regular classes I'm taking. I was suppose to be in one regular class (for math), but they dropped me in science too because 1. I needed to take geometry previously before I can get put into chemistry and 2. I need 3 years of lab sciences.
Will this affect my chances of getting in?
Will colleges know that I didn't drop myself, but was force to by the school?
Am I taking too little APs to get into Penn State?</p>

<p>Thank you! </p>

2

<p>IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Taking challenging classes is a very important part of getting a good education and being successful in college. </p>

<p>That being said, your course selection is not very important consideration for getting into PSU. Don’t stress it at all. Keeping your grades up and getting good test scores are the most important (almost only) considerations for admission. </p>

<p>Your GPA will be calculated by converting your grades into the 1-4 scale. 93 can mean many different things depending on how you get there. It is much better if you got all 93s than if you got 4 98s and a 68. Do your best to keep grades above 92 and avoid grades below about 82 at all costs.</p>

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<p>@Dreadpririt So its better to get like a 95+ average in a regular class than like a 85 in an AP class? </p>

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<p>It’s hard to say because it depends on how they calculate the weighted GPA.</p>

<p>My advice is to not take AP classes just to load up on difficulty. Find AP and honors classes that you have a decent chance of getting an A in. </p>

<p>For the purposes of getting into PSU (other schools are very different), you need to find a balance between A’s and course difficulty. </p>